Variable-size-sheet folding, cutting, and delivering mechanism.



H. M. BARBER.

VARIABLE SIZE SHEET FOLDING, CUTTING, AND DELIVERING MECHANISM.

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VARIABLE SIZE SHEET FOLDING, CUTTING, AND DELIVERING MECHANISM.APPLICATION FILED APB..12,1907.

9781537. Patented Dec. 13,1910.

8 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

' W My H. M. BARBER. VARIABLE SIZE SHEET FOLDING, CUTTING, ANDDELIVERING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 12, 1907. 978,537, I Patented Dec. 13.1910.

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VARIABLE SIZE SHEET FOLDING, CUTTING, AND DELIVERING MECHANISM.APPLICATION FILED APRJZ, 1907.

978,537, Patented Dec. 13, 1910.

8 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

H. M. BARBER.

VARIABLE SIZE SHEET FOLDING, CUTTING, AND DELIVERING MECHANISM.

APPLIOATIOH FILED APR. 12. 1907.

Patented Dec. 13,1910.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

Patented Dec. 13, 1910.

8 SHEETS-SHEET 6.

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H. M. BARBER. VARIABLE SIZE SHEET FOLDING, CUTTING, AND DELIVERINGMECHANISM.

APPLICATION IILBD APR-12. 1907.

"UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HOWARD M. BARBER, OF STONINGTON, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR T C. B. COTTRELL&

SONS COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

VARIABLE-SIZE-SHEET FOLDING, CUTTING, AND DELIVERING MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Dec. 13, 1910.

. Application filed April 12, 1907. Serial No. 367,747.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, IIOWARD M. BARBER, a citizen of the United, States,and resident of Stonington, in the'county of New London and State ofConnecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Variable-Size-Sheet Folding, Cutting, and Delivering Mechanism, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention consists broadly in a variable size sheet folding, cuttingand delivering mechanism arranged to submit the variable size sheets tofolding and cutting operations and delivering them in signatures to apredetermined point. I

My invention more particularly consists in mechanisms arranged to submitthe variable size sheets as they are delivered'one by one from asuitable source such, for instance, as a rotary printing press, to afirst fold, a second fold, then cutting the folded sheets into foursections and finally folding the sections and delivering them in foursixteen-page signatures. v

The several parts of the mechanism to be hereinafter described are soarranged that they may be readily adjusted to operate upon sheets ofvariable sizes.

In the accompanying drawings I have represented a rotary printing pressof the perfecting type, to which press variable size sheets are fed froma mechanism which will only be generally described herein as suchmechanism forms the subject-matter of an application filed by meFebruary 23, 1906, Serial No. 302,395 for variable sizesheet cutting andfeeding mechanism. I have also shown in connection with said printingpress, mechanism arranged to deliver varicutting and folding thevariable size sheets as they come from the press and also mechanism fordelivering the variable size sheets fiat from the press onto a receivingboard; Fig. 2 is a detail vertical section throu h the same, Fig. 2 is adetail front View of the sheet slitters; Fig. 3 is a transverse sectionon an enlarged scale, through the sheet folding and delivery mechanismtaken in the plane of the line AA of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a detail outsideview of the same; Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail section through thetucking cylinder, the foldin and tucking cylinder and the second foldingcylinder Fig. 6

is a detail section showing the cam for controlling the floatingmovement of the tucking cylinder blade and the cams for controlling theopening of the folding grippers on the second folding cylinder; Fig. 71s a detail section showing the cam for opening the grippers on thetucking cylinder. Fig. 8 is a detail section showing the cam forcontrolling the floating of the blade on the combined folding andtucking cylinder and the cams for opening the folding grippers on saidcylinder. Fig. 9 is a detail section showing the mechanism for operatingthe cam for controlling the outward movement of the tucking blade on thetucking cylinder;

Fig. 9* is a detail View of the means for adjusting the position of thecam; Fig. 10 is a detail section showing the means for operating the camfor controlling the outward movement of the blade on the folding andtucking cylinder, and Fig. 10* is a detail view showing the means foradjusting the position of the cam.

The first plate cylinder is denoted by 1 and its impression cylinder by2. The second plate cylinder is denoted by 3 and its impression cylinderby 4. Variable size sheets are fed to the printing cylinders in thepresent instance by providing a vertically adjustable carriage 5 mountedin the q cylinder. The second impression cylinder 4 is provided with twosets of grippers, 18, 19, which are arranged to transfer the advanceedges of the sheets successively one at a time to the set of grippers 20carried by the tucking cylinder 21 .of my improved variable size sheetfolding, cutting and delivering mechanism. The shaft of this tuckingcylinder 21 is denoted by 22 and it is mounted in suitable bearings inthe side frames 6. The tucking cylinder 21 is provided with a tuckingblade 23 which is arranged to coact with a set of folding grippers 24carried by the folding and tucklng cylinder 25. The shaft 26 of thisfolding and tucking cylinder 25 is mounted in suitable bearings in theside frames 6. This folding and tucking cylinder 25 is also providedwith a tucking blade 27 which is'arranged to coact with a set of foldinggrippers'28 carried by the second folding cylinder 29. The shaft 30 ofthis second folding cylinder is mounted to rotate in suitable bearingsin the side frames 6. A set of grippers 31 on the folding and tuckingcylinder 25 is utilized when the mechanism is used in connection with avariable size flat sheet delivery but is not used in my presentmechanism.

A stationary cam 32 is arranged in position' to open the set of grippers20 to release the sheet as it is being folded off on to the cylinder 25,the said cam being so 10- cated that the grippers 20'will at the sametime that they release one sheet, receive another sheet from the nextsucceeding set of grippers on the second impression cylin cam 35 islocated within the cylinder 21 in position to impart the outwardmovement to the tucking blade 23 against the tension of its spring 36,the truck roller 37 of the said tucking blade being shown in dottedlines in Fig. 9. The spindle 38 of this cam 35 extends through the shaft22 and is rovided with an arm 39 which has a crossead 40 provided with atransversely elongated slot 41 through which extends a stationarylocking bolt 42 for securing the.

cam in-the desired position to operate the tucking blade 23 at theproper time for I sheets of various sizes.

A box cam 43 is arrangedin positionto receive the truck roll 44 of thetucking blade 27 of the'combined folding and tucking cylinderfor-floating the said blade. A rotatively adjustable cam 45 is locatedwithin the cylinder 25 in position to engage the part the outwardmovement to the said tucking blade against the tension of its spring 47.The. spindle 48 of this cam 45 extends through the shaft 26 and isprovided with an arm 49 having a transverse head 50 provided with atransversely elong'ated slot '51 through which a stationary locking bolt52 extends for securing the cam in the proper position to impart theoutward movement to the tucking blade 27 at theproper time to fold offsheets of various sizes. ing blade 27 is mounted in arotativelyadjustable plate 54 for bringing the tucking blad'e into theproper position with respect to its folding grippers 28 on the secondfolding cylinder 29.

A stationary cam 55 is arranged in position to open the folding grippers24 at the The rock shaft 53 of this tuckproper time to receive thetucking blade 23 and a stationary cam 56 is arranged in position to openthe grippers 24 at the proper time to release the folded sheet as thetucking blade 27 tucks the folded sheet into the to deliver the sheetafter its second fold between the sheet carrying tapes 59, 60.

The device for cutting the twice folded sheet into a plurality ofsections comprises slitters arranged in position to receive the foldedsheets as they are fed from the tapes .59, 60. In the present instance Ihave shown three slitting disks 61,62, 63, adjustable along their shaft64 and arranged to coact with their adjustable slitting blocks 65, 66,67 on the shaft 68. The folded sections are delivered from the slitterson to the inclined folding table 69 against the stops 70. Each sectionof the foldin table is provided with a slot 71 through whlch the foldedsheet section is. conducted by a reciprocating folding blade 72 intoengagement with a pair of folding rolls 73, 74. The longitudinal foldingblades 72 are guided in their movement on the shaft 75 and are providedwith truck rollers 76 which to deliver the signatures into the pockets'82, 83. The four sets of folding rolls 73,

74 are adjusted independently of each other. The supports 84 for thesaid two outer pairs of folding rolls 73,74 are adjusted by means ofadjusting screws 85 having a bevel gear of the grippers for receivingthe succee engagement 86, 87 with a shaft 88 which is provlded withmeans for the attachment of acrank not shown herein. The supports 89 forthe two inner airs of folding rolls .73, 7 4 and the sets of eliverypulleys 80, 81

are adjusted by means of an adjusting screw 90 having a bevel gearengagement 91, 92, with a shaft 93 which is geared to a shaft I 94having means for the attachment of a crank handle not shown herein. Thelongitudinally reciprocating tucking blades 72 and their operating camsmay be adjusted eral parts of the variable size sheet folding andcutting mechanism comprises a gear 95 fixed. to the tucking cylinder 21which meshes with agear 96 on the shaft 26 of the combined folding andtucking cylinder 25. A gear 96 carried by the shaft of the cylinder 25,meshes with a gear 97 on the shaft of the second folding c linder 29.This ear 97 drives the shaft 5 of the final fol ing mechanismthrough anidler gear 98 which meshes with a gear 99 fast on said shaft 75. Theseveral sets of folding rolls 73, 74, are

driven from bevel ears 100 on a cross shaft 101 which is provi ed with agear 102 driven from an idler gear 103 meshing with the gear 99. Thetapes 59 are'driven by providing the shaft 104 on one of the sets ofpulleys with a gear 105 which meshes with a gear 106, the gear 106 inturn meshing with a gear 107 which meshes with the gear 97.

The shaft 68 of the slitting mechanism is j I provided with a gear 108which meshes with a gear 109 driven by the gear 105. The two inner setsof folding rolls 73, 74, drive their series of delivery rolls 80, 81,through intermediate gears 110, 111, 112 which form connections betweenthe gears on the several shafts of the said rolls.

In operation, the leading edge of each sheet as it comes from the secondimpression cylinder is en aged by the grippers 20 of the'tucking cyinder 21, the grippers being opened at the proper time by the cam 32.WVhen' the cylinder 21 has rotated 'a sufficient distance, to bring thetuckin blade 23 opposite the middle of the sheet, t e tucking blade ismoved outwardly to tuck the sheet into the folding grippers 24 on thecombined folding and tucking. cylinder 25, the grippers 24being openedat the proper time to I receive the tucking blade 23 by the stationarycam 55. At the same time, the advance edge of the sheet is released bythe openin ing sheet from the second impression cylin- When the cylinder25 has rotated at 27; opposite the middle of thefolded sheet,

proper time to release the folded sheet to permit its transfer to thecylinder 29. The stationary cam 58 is arranged in position to open thefolding grippers 28 at the proper time to deliver the twice folded sheetbetween the tapes 59, 60. These tapes will de= liver the twice foldedsheet to the slittin mechanism where the sheet will be divide intosections. These sections are delivered to the final folding device,which folding de- I vice is arranged to fold each section at rightangles to the first and second folds and deliver the folded signaturesto the pockets 78, 79, 82, 83.

It will be seen that the-several cams for operating the sheet grippers,the tucking blades and the folding grippers are so arranged that sheetsof various sizes delivered from the press may be folded, cut and againfolded as hereinabove described.

\ What I claim is:

1. Mechanism for folding variable size sheets comprising threecylinders, sheet engaging grippers and a tuckingblade on the firstcylinder, folding grippers and a tucking blade on the second cylinder,folding grippers on the third cylinder, means for adjusting the time ofoperation ofthe several coacting parts slitters arranged to receive thetwice folded sheet from the third cylinder and cut it into four sectionsand folding devices for imparting a fold to each of the said sections.

2. Mechanism for folding variable size sheets comprising threecylinders, sheet engaging. grippers and a tucking blade on the first clinder, folding grippers and a tucking b ade on the second cylinder,folding directly from the folding rolls of one folding device, anotherpocket and delivery pulleys for delivering the folded sheets from thefolding rolls of another folding device into said last named pocket, andmeans for adjusting the folding devices independently of each other.

4. Folding mechanism consisting of two outer and two inner foldingdevices each folding device comprising a folding blade and foldingrolls, pockets for receiving the folded sheets directly from the foldingrolls of the two outer folding devices, other pockets and deliverypulleys for delivering the folded sheets from the folding rolls of thetwo inner folding devices to the last named pockets. v

5. Folding mechanism consisting of two outer and two inner foldingdevices each folding device comprising a folding blade and foldingrolls, pockets for receiving the folded sheets directly from the foldingrolls of the two outer folding devices, other pock- In testimony, that-Iclaim the foregoing as my invention, I have signed my name in presenceof two witnesses, this 15th day of January 1907.

. 'HOWARD M. BARBER.

- Witnesses:

A. R. STILLMAN, G. BURDICK.

